Method and apparatus for dyeing yarn



May 22,1934. I J. P. GAREY ET AL 60,183

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING YARN Filed March 3, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet l M ANVENTORQOWM ATTORN EY May 22, 1934.

J. P. GAREY ET AL I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING YARN Filed March 5, 1930 s Sheets-Sheeb 2 z IAVENTOR6 1/ W ATTORNEY y 1934- J. P. GAREY ET AL 7 60,183

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING YARN Filed March 3, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVEIBgI'DRS Mop BYZZE s. m 04 ATTORNEY Patented May 2 2, 1934 PATENT OFFICE UNITED STATES John P. Garey,

Hasbrouck, Textile Devices, Inc., tion of New York Elmira Heights, and Louis B. Elmira, N. Y.,

assignors to Eclipse Elmira, N. Y., a corpora- Application March 3, 1930, Serial No. 432,669

v 8 Claims.

This invention relates to method and apparatus for dyeing yarn.

The invention provides a method by'which yarn wound in package form may be evenly dyed, 5 and an apparatus for carrying out the method, which is simple and convenient for use by knitting mills and other users of yarn who cannot install the elaborate and expensive equipment used in dyeing establishments.

We have discovered that a package of yarn may be evenly dyed by causing a body of dye to surge back and forth through the yarn, provided that air bubbles are 'not entrained in the dye as it passes back and forth through the yarn. Our invention, which is based on this discovery, consists in a method of dyeing by a back and forth, or surging, movement of the dye in which the entraining 01' air is prevented, and in an apparatus for carrying out this method. The nature of 1 our invention may best be understood by a detailed description 01' a specific method embodying our invention and of a specific apparatus for carrying out this method, which isillustra'ted in the accompanying drawings inwhich: Fig. 1 is an elevation of the dyeing apparatus sectioned on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus; Fig. 3 isa small scaleplan view of the lower part ofthe apparatus sectioned on'the line 3-3 01' Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2, showing one of the nozzles and parts associated therewith; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of one of the dye tanks taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

. The apparatus illustrated includes two open dye tanks 10, 10 which are used alternately and a reciprocatory pump 11 which may be connected with either of them.

Before describing the apparatus in? detail, we will refer to those parts of it which will facilitate an explanation of our new method of dyeing. The dye tank 10 contains a number of nozzles 12 which may be inserted in the perforated cores A of yarn packages A placed in the tank. Means hereinafter described are providedfor preventing dye from moving into'and out of the core space of any such package otherwise than through the mass of yarn wound on the core. A conduit, 13 with suitable branches 14 extending through the bottom of the tank 10 connectsthe nozzles 12 with an opening 15 near the bottom of the cylinder 16 of the pump 11. 'A by-pass conduit 1'? connects the tank 10,. either with the opening 15, or with a corresponding opening 18 in the pump cylinder. The by-pass conduit 17 contains a regulating valve 19 by means of which the flow through it may be regulated or cut oil altogether, and a check valve 20 which prevents any flow of dye from the pump to the tank through this conduit. The pump has a piston 21, which is reciprocated, by means of a crank 22, between a lower position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and an upper position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The displacement volume of the pump is less than 5 the volume of the part of the tank 10 which is above the upper ends of the yarn packages A on the nozzles 12. The shaft 23 of the pump is slowly and steadily driven through a worm drive 24.

The elements or the apparatus which have been described are sufiicient for an explanation of our method of dyeing. Assuming the tank 10 and the conduit 13 to be filled with dye as shown in Fig. 1 and the piston 21 to be at the bottom of a stroke, the upstroke of the piston 7 will suck some of the dye in the tank inwardly through the yarn packages into the nozzles 12. and thence through the conduit 13 into the pump cylinder; while the next downstroke of the piston will force this dye outwardly through the yarn packages into the tank. This surging action 01' the dye will be repeated on each cycle of the pump, while, owing to the relatively small displacement volume of the pump, the yarn packages will at all times remain completely submerged so that no air will be drawn into them with the dye. We have found, however, that, in the case of most yarn packages, the dye flows outwardly through the yarn much more freely than it flows inwardly, owing to the fact that in outward flow it tends to loosen the yarn, while in inward flow it tends tov pack the threads of the yarn together. With such packages, if no dye is by-passed from the tank to the pump, on the upstroke or the piston, a high vacuum is created in the pump cylinder'which further compacts the yarn, resulting in an insuflicient inward flow of dye through thepackages and in a leakage of air into the pump cylinder around the piston. -On the downward stroke of the 1 pump, this air is forced through the yarn packages with the dye, which is likely to result in leaving undyed patches in the yarn. To avoid this difliculty, the regulating valve 19 is opened sufficiently to permit enough dye to flow directly from the tank to the pump cylinder on each" suction stroke of the piston to prevent the creation of a. high vacuum. in the pump. on the pressure strokes of the pump, the check valve 0 20 closes, so that all the dye in the cylinder is 111;

dye through the packages somewhat greater than the inflow, the surging action. of the dye through the yarn is maintained without entraining air in the surging body of dye. The result is a rapid 10 and even dyeing of the yarn in the packages.

As a specific example of the method, we can cite an instance in which the pump shaft is operated at the rate of nine revolutions per minute, and the regulating valve 19 is set so that the negative pressure or suction on the upstrokes of the pump piston is six pounds to the square inch less than atmospheric pressure, while the pressure on the downstrokes of the pump is about six pounds to the square inch above atmospheric pressure. In this instance, about onethird of the dye which is drawn into the pump on each upstroke leaves the tank through the by-pass.

It should be understood that the actual amounts of suction and pressure used may be varied to a considerable extent according to the tightness of winding of the yarn packages being dyed. In the specific example above cited, a rather loosely wound yarn package was used. Successful results have been obtained with suctions as great as eleven pounds to the square inch less than atmospheric pressure and with pressures as great as twenty pounds to the square inch above atmospheric pressure. To obtain successful dyeing, it is, however, very desirable that the speed of the pump shaft and the setting of the regulating valve be so related that the displacement volume of the pump is completely filled with liquid at the end of each upstroke.

In addition to providing means for carrying out this method of dyeing, the apparatus illustrated embodies means for facilitating the use 4 of the method, and particularly for facilitating packages which it contains.

thechanging of dyed packages for packages to be dyed. Thus, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the nozzles of the two tanks 10 and 10 are connected to the pump by separate branches 25, 25', of the main conduit 13 containing separate cut-off valves 26, 26', while the tanks themselves are connected to the pump by separate branches 2'7, 2'7 of the by-pass conduit 17 containing separate out-off valves 28, 28'. A common operating lever 29 for the valves 26 and 28 and an operating lever 30 for the valves 26' and 28'- provide ready means for disconnecting or connect.- ing either tank with the pump. The tanks 10 and 10' are provided with separate drain conduits 31, 31 controlled by valves 32, 32. In the use of the apparatus, one of the tanks is connected to the pump to carry out the method of surge dyeing described, while the other is disconnected from the pump and drained to permit the removal and replacement of the yarn To hold each yarn package firmly on its nozzle during the dyeing and to permit ready replace- -ment of the package, each nozzle 12 has a't'its base an annular abutment 33 for the lower end of the core A of a yarn package A, while abutments 34 for the upper ends of the cores are mounted by means of springs 35 on a frame 36 hinged to the upper edge of the dye tank. When this frame is turned up as shown in Fig. 5, the packages A may belifted from the nozzles l2. After new packages havebeen placed on the nozzles, the frame 36 is swung down to bring the spring abutments 34 into engagement with the upper ends of the cores of the packages. The frame is then forced further down to compress the springs 35, clamping the cores of the packages between the abutments 33 and 34, and is held by means of a spring latch 3'7. In the case of cores open at both ends, like those illustrated, the spring abutments 34 serve to plug the upper ends of the cores as well as to hold the cores on the nozzles.

Any convenient means may be provided for refilling With dye the tank in which the new packages have been placed, and the dye may be maintained at a desired elevated temperature by means of a steam coil 38 in the dye tank or otherwise. I

What is claimed is: i.

1. The method of dyeing yarn in package form, which comprises placing a packageof yarn in av dye bath, and causing dye to flow alternately inwardly. and outwardly through the package of yarn, while maintaining the package completely submerged, the periods of inward and outward flow being equal and the rate of the outward flow being greater than the rate of the inward flow.

2. The method of dyeing yarn in package form, which comprises placing a package of-yarn in a dye bath, causing a quantity of dye to flow inwardly through the package out of the bath and at the same time causing a quantity of the dye to flow out of the bath without passing through the package, and then causing said two quantities of dye combined to flow outwardly ing a displacement volume less than the volume.

of the portion of said'tank which is located above the upper surface of the yarn package.

4. Apparatus for dyeing yarn in package form, comprising a dye tank, means for supporting a package of yarn in the tank with its 'upper surface below the level of the upper edge of the tank; a conduit communicating with the core opening of a package of yarn on said support, a pump cylinder connected with said conduit, a piston in said cylinder, and means for reciprocating said piston to displace a volume loss than the volume of the portion of said tank above the upper surface of a yarn package on said support.

5. Apparatusfor dyeing'yarn in package form, comprising a dye tank, a nozzle in said tank communicating with the core space of a package of yarn placed'in the tank, a reciprocatory pump, a

conduit connecting said nozzle with the pump, and a constricted by-pass conduit connecting the tank with the pump and containing a check valve preventing flow from: the pump to the tank through the by-pass conduit.

6. Apparatus for dyeing yarn in package form, comprising a dye tank, a nozzle in said tank for entering the core of a package of yarn, a reciprocatory pump, a conduit connecting said nozzle 7. Apparatus for dyeing yarn in package form, 150

comprising a pair of tanks each containing a nozzle adapted to communicate with the core of a package of yarn, a reciprocatory pump, concomprising a pair of dye tanks, a nozzle in each tank adapted tocommunicate with the core of a package of yarn, a reciprocatory pump, conduits connecting the nozzle of each tank with the pump, separate valves controlling said conduits,

a toy-pass conduit connected with the pump and having two branches, one connecting with each tank, a check valve and a regulating valve in the by-pass conduit between the pump and the branches of the conduit, and separate cut-0E valves in the branches of the by-pass conduit.

JOHN P. GAREY.

LOUIS RHASBROUCK. 

